THE ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONAL CONTENT OF MILKFISHES WHICH COME FROM DIFFERENT HABITATS

ABSTRACT

Milkfish (Chanos chanos, Forskal) is one of the strategic commodities to fulfill protein need which is relatively cheap and favored by Indonesian consumer. Milkfish as a comestible is an important sources of nutrient for the survival of mankind. The objective of this research is to know the flesh’s chemical composition of the milkfishes come from different habitats which are freshwater and brackish water. The research was conducted through two stages, the stage of sample preparation for transportation, and the stage of raw material preparation like separating flesh, scale, bone, and offal. The analysis which was conducted was analysis of proximate, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. The finding showed that two milkfishes from two different habitats got different yields. The yield of freshwater milkfish was 38.5%, while the brackish water milkfish was 50.8%. Milkfishes are rich with protein source (20-24%), amino acid, fatty acid, mineral and vitamin.The highest composition of amino acid was glutamate by1.386% (freshwater milkfish) and 1.268% (brackish water milkfish). The highest unsaturated fatty acid was oleic by 31-32%, macro mineralson milkfish flesh which were: Ca, Mg, Na and K. The mineral micro consisted of Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn. Vitamin content of milkfish flesh included vitamin A, B1 and B12.